A news conference is held by the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on May 17, attracting a number of government officials to attend. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Guilin in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has maintained strong momentum in its growing tourism industry in 2018, and an international tourism resort has taken shape in the region, according to a news conference held in Nanning on May 17.

In 2018, Guilin witnessed a boom in its tourism and more than 100 million people visited Guilin, a year-on-year increase of 32.58 percent, bringing in a total tourism consumption of 139 billion yuan ($20 billion), an increase of 43.22 percent year-on-year.

Huang Rukun (R1), deputy director of Guangxi's Development and Reform Commission, talks with Wei Fengyun (L2), minister of the Guilin publicity department, discussing the future of the city's integration of culture and tourism. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Guilin, a nationally renowned tourism destination, released its outline development plan for it to grow into an international tourist attraction, which was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in November 2012. According to the plan, the city was positioned as a world-class tourism destination, a national ecological demonstration zone for ecological civilization construction, a regional cultural tourism center, and an important platform for international communication.

Over the past few years, Guilin has attached great importance to its ecological civilization construction and environmental protection. The city continued to promote the upgrading and transformation of the Lijiang River, and was awarded many honorable titles for its achievements. At the same time, Guilin stuck to its high-quality development strategy, taking advantage of its strengths in big data to promote the development of smart tourism.

Lai Fuqiang (C), deputy general-director of the autonomous region's culture and tourism department, examines Guilin's cultural and creative products. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Guilin also provided bonus policies to benefit more people, including a 72-hour visa-free transit to foreign visitors from 51 countries and a 144-hour visa-free transit services to tourist groups from 10 ASEAN countries.  

In the future, the city will introduce relevant policies to foster Guilin's high-quality development in tourism, aiming to set up a development pattern with distinct advantages and distinguishing features to highlight its leading role in the reform and development of China's tourism industry.